Ah man. Where to start.
Welcome back.
There are loads of us still around from pre-2021 so you’re not in ‘hello fellow kids’ territory just yet.
Much has changed. Nothing has changed.
The Dark Lord has risen and caused Take Two to Take over Zynga meaning that the Giant Evil Money Succuubus requires an increased level of sacrifice to keep happy.
1 - Yes, if you don’t want to compete and just want something for a quick daily down-time. Thanks to Limit Breaks (which you may or may not have been aware of) and now Double (Alpha) Limit Breaks (and more soon, likely.) You can raise your roster to a level where they won’t get smacked around. But, you’ll need to stay in mid-range alliance. Many C/F2P players are in the in the same boat so you’re not behind per sé, just need a large adjustment of expectations.
2 - Thanks to double limit-breaks and costumes, some 4* do stand the test of time and can compete in a 5* environment - but probably not in the top 1000. At the moment, 4/80 5* emblemmed can struggle against a double-limit broken team. Annnnnd there’re now Legendary troops (whose main bonus is adding a lot (+25%) of health). Top Team power is north of 7k.
3 - A couple of years? The average lifespan of a game-changing hero is probably 6 weeks (hahahah, no but seriously) before they release another one. Power creep is less creepy and more ‘Drill Sargant / scary fitness instructer yelling in your face’. There was quite a nice few months where the top 100 had a bit of variety everytime I looked at it, but now it’s back to default. So they’ll change it again.
4 - The Covenant Portal, Costume Chamber, Untold Tales (currently on) are probably your best bet. The updated Challenge of Knights is probably worth it too. Challenge Festivals.
5 - There are so many offers now, constantly, and on their own website that you’ll definitely be able to find something. Have a scroll through this thread which details all the offers, so you can get an idea of what might work for you. Yes, there are now 5 VIP things - but the timesaver(s) and 2 new tiers of VIp were only launched this week.
6 - Money is required by our taskmasters taskmasters and the best way for money is to speed up hero release. Check this out for the list of heroes released
Yes - it can get overwhelming with multiple passives - they’re basically throwing the kitchen sink at skills. They attempted a Big Balance Update which really didn’t go down well - so they resorted to a muted version of it which get more grumbles and less uproar. Congrats on the robot girlfriend. Sorry about the toaster.
7 - Pretty much the same. The 1/2* tournaments were scrapped pretty shaprish.
8 - Others can speak far more knowledgably but a) beta is generally ignored by the company now and b) there’s plenty of discussion still ongoing about the odds.
9 - Yes and no. There are more free places to get 4* mats (Path of Valor offers one every 30 days in addition to the (now) weekly quest, and Mystic Vision (now you can watch 3 times every 2 hours) can be very generous.
10 - I can’t remember what’s listed this month (it’s nuts) but probably worth seeing how you feel about all of them.
Another new feature is Soul Exchange - where you can, sort of, swap your dupes for the costumes. Except you don’t get to choose completely - there’s a list of 20 heroes (in 3 tiers - 10, 15 and 20) that you can choose to pick ONE of and swap those heroes for. The heroes have to be 5* - and the next one is in 3 weeks. (it’s quarterly)
TL;DR
There’s a metric tonne more of everything. Heroes, events, offers. If you want to play casually, and stay around low diamond (the highest number of cups was recently above 3700) then you should be ok with your roster. Try it out. I’d be fascinated to be in your position!
The community, in general, remains as supportive and wonderful (and frustrated) as ever.